Tuesday, time to announce the postponement of the 2020 Olympics, Wednesday, time for digestion. Thursday, that of the forecasts. And these are not the best. According to the organizers, who have announced the establishment of a working group responsible for managing its consequences, postponing the Olympiad to the next year may cost everyone dearly.
The postponement of the Olympic Games 2020 to 2021, at the latest in summer, represents a major logistical challenge for the organizers, while the new dates for the biggest sporting event on the planet have not yet been set. "Do we have to make sure that the problems we face can be resolved one by one," said Tokyo 2020 organizing committee chief executive Toshiro Muto on Thursday, promising decisions "as soon as possible "
Carry over to over two billion euros
"We believe that the additional costs generated (by the postponement, editor's note) will be very significant," he added, without however providing a quantified estimate. According to the Japanese economic daily Nikkei, the postponement could cost 300 billion yen (nearly 2.5 billion euros), including site rental costs, the modification of hotel reservations and the prolonged employment of staff. organization and security guards, among others.
These additional costs could evolve depending on the negotiations to come between the various project leaders, in particular the Japanese organizing committee, the city of Tokyo, the Japanese state and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said the Nikkei, citing sources close to the matter.
An unprecedented challenge
In December 2019, the organizers had estimated the total cost of the Tokyo Olympics at 1,350 billion yen (11.5 billion euros) for the Japanese part. "I think we will have to revise some ambitions downward," warned Muto on Thursday. "Sometimes you have to agree to review the plans."
The president of the organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, for his part recalled that never before had the Olympic Games been postponed in peacetime. Tokyo 2020 “will face challenges that no one has faced so far. I am certain that our staff will be able to cope with it, ”but it will be a“ very difficult task, ”insisted M.Mori.
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